Movie boss: ‘Don’t blame Tom Cruise for flop’

Movie bosses behind Tom Cruise’s latest movie “Knight And Day” have urged critics not to “blame” the Hollywood actor for the film’s lackluster performance at the box office, insisting the star is not responsible for the low takings.

The action comedy, which also stars Cameron Diaz, opened in the U.S. last weekend in third place with a disappointing $20.5 million — the worst opening for a Cruise film in 20 years.

Many critics have been quick to suggest the star has lost popularity among film fans, while others have levied the blame at the picture’s poster campaign, which featured two blacked out silhouettes instead of pictures of the stars.

Tony Sella, co-president of marketing at 20th Century Fox, the movie studio behind “Knight And Day,” talked about the film’s poor performance during its opening weekend, insisting the blame does not lie with Cruise.

He tells the Los Angeles Times, “Blame me, don’t blame Tom Cruise. We did lots of focus groups for this film, and no one ever said there was a star problem. Never. Tom Cruise was not the issue. I take full responsibility.

“And if the movie ends up going to $100 million, I want full responsibility, too.”

Sella also defends the decision not to include Cruise and Diaz in the marketing campaign, adding, “It was a way for us to signal that this was a different, adult kind of movie. The whole campaign was designed to evoke a film like ‘North by Northwest’. It wasn’t in any way us trying to hide anyone, simply to make the film look unique, so you didn’t just look at the billboards as if they were designed to say, ‘The Two Stars Go Here.’”